[FenrisWolf]

I have a new player (wife of a current player) that is interested in joining the SR game that I am currently running. She is really new to RPGs in general and I need some help in creating an easy to play character for her. I was thinking of an elven stealthy physical adept that is geared toward unarmed combat and/or blades. I'm fairly new to the system myself and I haven't created a ton of characters to understand all the nuances of adepts. Any help or write-ups would be greatly appreciated.

[FastJack]

It might be best to grab one of the Pre-Made characters in SR/SR4A. Since she's new to the game, stay away from Spellcasting/Hacking for her for now (unless she likes to dive into rules).

[Dead Monky]

A weapon specialist is probably the simplest character to play.  Buy guns, mod guns, shoot guns.  Simple.  Oh, and there are knives in there somewhere.

[voydangel]

I'm gonna agree with both of you guys and say - try starting with an example character (I would recommend the gunslinger or a weapons specialist type toon), and then tweak it for her to fit her interests and/or your groups play style.

[Mäx]

I would succest taking a look at the sample character thread at Dumpshock, for a little better build characters then the book examples.
Because the example characters in the book suck.

[Glyph]

Here's one quick build.  A bit bare-bones outside of swordfighting, but functional.  Like all good melee builds, it includes a ranged skill, because being the best swordswoman in the world doesn't do you any good against someone shooting at you from a third story balcony.

Adept Swordswoman
Race: Elven

BREAKDOWN (400 Points)
Core Attributes: 180
Special Attributes: 75
Race: 30
Active Skills: 106
Qualities: +30
Contacts: 5
Resources: 32
Bond Foci: 2

=Attributes=
Body: 4
Agility: 6 [8]
Reaction: 5 [6]
Strength: 3
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 3
Logic: 2
Willpower: 3
Magic: 6[5]
Edge: 2

Essence: 5.00

=Qualities=
Adept
Allergy - Silver(Uncommon), Moderate
Sensitive System
Spirit Bane - Fire Spirits

=Active Skills=
Blades/Swords: 6[9]/+2
Dodge/Ranged: 2/+2
Infiltration: 3
Influence Skill Group: 2
Intimidation: 2
Perception: 3
Pistols/Semi-Automatics: 4/+2

=Knowledge Skills=
Languages >
English: N
Japanese: 3

Other >
Bladesmithing Background: 4
Gang Identification: 3
Local Area Knowledge: 3
Safe Houses: 2


=Bioware=
Muscle Toner: 2
Reflex Recorder - Blades
Synaptic Booster: 1

=Adept Abilities=
Combat Sense: 5
Counterstrike: 1
Enhanced Perception: 2
Improved Ability - Blades: 2
Quickdraw

=Bound Magical Foci=
Weapon Focus (Katana): Rating 2

=Contacts=
Fixer (Connection: 3/Loyalty: 2)

=Lifestyle and Gear=
34,000 Nuyen left after buying bioware and weapon focus.

[Critias]

That's a pretty solid build (not terribly far off from what I'd throw together) -- but it kind of stings to pay the extra points to get Magic up to 6 and then lose 'em from augmentation. 

I might suggest shuffling around just that last point of Magic, and swapping in some Qualities (Martial Arts, from Arsenal, to be specific).  Losing Quick Draw and maybe a level of Improved Ability would free up Magic to drop to 5 (4), you'd have to drop a level of Combat Sense, but that .25 might be fun to put into an improved sense or something (there's ALWAYS someplace cool to spend .25 PP).

The points you free up that way (from dropping Magic) could then be spent on the Martial Arts quality or a maneuver or two, which would turn that +1 die to attack into a +1 DV (it seems like she's slinging enough dice that hitting shouldn't be an issue real often, but an outright DV boost is always nice), turn the Quick Draw adept power into one of several Martial Arts tricks that replicate it, etc, etc.  She might feel a little more like a kung-fu swordfightin' badass with a little more mundane skill backing up the magic.

Just something to think about.  Overall that's a pretty good build, I just cringe whenever I see Magic capped like that, and then lowered again.

[Walks Through Walls]

For a beginning player to have to close to use their best weapon can be frustrating at times. Unless your game tends to be different than most of the ones I have run and played in a majority of the combat happens at range. Either she is just going to fire with pistols like everyone else and not get the full effect of the character or struggle to close and feel that she is at a disadvantage. Once you have experience you learn tricks like full dodge while you close move from cover to cover and sneak up on opponents, but starting out usually you are just trying to grasp mechanics has been my experience.

Also I personally don't like buying up magic just to knock it down especially to the max level and paying the 25 pts to turn around and lose it.
I would drop the cyberware/bioware buy the first level of the adept power increase reflexes and get the other .5 pts by lowering combat sense by 1.
The character will still be dropping 16 dice with the sword and be able to do plenty of damage. You could even drop the combat sense by another 1 or two and get a die or two of additional with the pistol to make up for the loss of agility because you can use parry or block very effectively when attacked in melee combat.

[Glyph]

You're right about the Magic, Critias.  I guess it's because I usually do unarmed builds, where you need to squeeze every point that you can out.  So you could easily lose the hard max on Magic, dropping combat sense to 4 and losing the quick draw power in exchange for getting it as a maneuver.

Now, for those 25 points, the ultimate powergaming combo would be Arnis de Mano twice (once for +1 DV on Blades, once to do damage on a disarm), Sangre y Acero once (for another +1 DV on Blades), then get disarm, finishing move, iaijutsu, off-hand training, and two-weapons style.

But this is a new player, so instead I would take two levels of martial arts for +2 DV on Blades, taking the iaijustsu maneuver, and raising the base Dodge skill to 4.  Lots of other things you could do with the 25 points, though.

[Wayfinder]

I'm personally a fan of the sample characters in the books. Especially for a brand new player to RPGs in general. The part I like best is that they have major holes that after even just a couple of sessions the player is already thinking of how THEY can make a better character.

The real key is to personalize the template for the player. Giving a detailed background, fleshing out motivations, and retailoring knowledge skills give the new player the chance for creativity without flooding them with game mechanics.

[Glyph]

I'm personally a fan of the sample characters in the books. Especially for a brand new player to RPGs in general. The part I like best is that they have major holes that after even just a couple of sessions the player is already thinking of how THEY can make a better character.

To me, that is why the archetypes are fine for a couple of "learning the game" sessions, where you learn how the rules and setting work, but not for a character for an actual campaign.  It's hard to be enthusiastic once you reach that "I could make a better character than this" realization, but are still stuck with the sucky character.

Also, some of the archetypes are simply not optimized, but other ones are missing vital skills that they need for their professed roles, or are so ineffective as to be virtually unplayable.  With the street samurai, for example, you can mostly muddle through, but the bounty hunter is a joke.

[Dead Monky]

I like using the archetypes as noobs or Runner wannabes that my team gets to beat up on or terrorize the shit out of.  It good fun for a blow some steam game.

[FoxBoy]

Generally what I would recommend, is start out with the characters in the book, let them understand how to RP with SR4, and then when they start asking how they can improve the character, give them the option of starting over with the karma they had earned.

That way, they make their mistakes with a throwaway character to learn the system, and then they start over with a better idea of what they want to do without penalty. No stress.

[Mäx]

but that .25 might be fun to put into an improved sense or something (there's ALWAYS someplace cool to spend .25 PP).

Sustenance is nice for pretty much any character.